Liz Smith Movies

Debuting September 3, 1991 over BBC1, the long-running British sitcom 2.4 Children was all about an ostensibly typical family, the Potters. Despite their veneer of normality, the family invariably found itself experiencing all sorts of abnormal and surrealistic adventures, in the manner of the American comedies Married: With Children and Malcolm in the Middle. For the record, Ben Porter (Gary Olsen) ran a plumbing business with attractive assistant Christine (Kim Benson); Ben's wife (Belinda Lang) held down several dead-end jobs before launching a catering business with her friend Rona (Julia Hills); and the couple's kids, Jenny (played first by Claire Woodgate, then by Claire Buckfield) and David (John Pickard), were like most other wisecracking sitcom kids, only more so. One of the most endearing aspects of the series was its endless stream of pop-culture references, including Ben's referring to son David as "Puggsley," and the contemptuous nickname "Jake the Klingon" bestowed upon Ben's main business rival Jake Klinger (Roger Lloyd Pack). The 57th and final episodes of 2.4 Children was seen on December 30, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Charles Dickens' classic holiday tale of one man learning the true meaning of Christmas is brought to the screen once again in this made-for-TV movie. Ebenezer Scrooge (George C. Scott) is a cynical old man whose greatest concern is money, and who regards compassion as a luxury he can't afford. On Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley (Frank Finlay), his former business partner, who arranges for Scrooge to be visited by three spirits in an attempt to show him the error of his ways -- the Ghosts of Christmas Past (Angela Pleasence), Christmas Present (Edward Woodward), and Christmas Yet to Come (Michael Carter). The spirits force Scrooge to examine the failings of his own life, as well as the bravery and optimism of his loyal but ill-treated employee Bob Crachit (David Warner). A Christmas Carol also features Susannah York as Mrs. Crachit, Anthony Walters as Tiny Tim, and Joanne Whalley as Fan. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

What happened when best-selling mystery novelist Agatha Christie disappeared for 11 days back in 1926? The British Agatha "answers" that question. Vanessa Redgrave is cast as Ms. Christie, who vanished from her home not long after her husband (Timothy Dalton) informed her that he was leaving her. Nearly two weeks later, after being the subject of a nationwide search, Christie showed up none the worse for wear at a health spa in Yorkshire, insisting that she could remember nothing of her experiences during her disappearance. According to scriptwriters Kathleen Tynan and Arthur Hopcraft, Christie was located before her return by American reporter Wally Stanton (an uncomfortable-looking Dustin Hoffman), after enjoying a brief romantic fling with the authoress. The journalist decided to keep his discovery a secret. Another plot wrinkle concerns Christie's plan for revenge against her errant husband -- a scheme with all the earmarks of a Miss Marple or Poirot whodunit. Agatha represented former TV director Michael Apted's matriculation to A-pictures with major stars; he fared better with his subsequent endeavor, Coal Miner's Daughter (1980). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Tony award-winning British musical comedy star Robert Lindsay makes his first important American film appearance in Bert Rigby, You're a Fool. Lindsay, of course, plays the title character, a coal miner who dreams of becoming a big showbiz star. Only problem is, there's very little demand for Bert Rigby's impersonations of Buster Keaton and Gene Kelly. Undaunted, Bert heads to Hollywood, where, while working as a butler in the household of movie mogul Jim Shirley (Corbin Bernsen), he must fend off the advances of Shirley's hot-to-trot wife, Meredith (Anne Bancroft). Befitting the old-fashioned nature of Bert Rigby's behavior and tastes in entertainment, director Carl Reiner adopts a "retro" approach to his material; at times, the film looks as though it was made in 1939 rather than 1989, despite its R-rated sex, profanity, and body-function jokes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This dark comedy charts the chaos that results when the panicked staff of a major English hospital attempts to prepare for a visit by the Queen Mother, only to face every problem imaginable. Britannia Hospital clearly attempts to recapture the anarchic bite of director Lindsay Anderson's previous satires If... and O Lucky Man, but fails to achieve the same combination of intelligent political critique, comic lunacy, and skillful filmmaking. (Indeed, the three films are often considered a loosely linked trilogy, largely due to the presence in all three of lead Malcolm McDowell). The film does make a valiant effort, but its commentary on the poor, labor disputes, and the inhumanity of bureaucratic institutions mixes uneasily with the film's broader elements, like the experiments of a cartoonish mad scientist. The result is often quite entertaining on a scene-by-scene basis, but the film never reaches the level of delirious, farcical energy or satirical sharpness to which it clearly aspires. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

Monster House director Gil Kenan takes the helm for this children's fantasy about two young heroes who attempt to solve an ancient mystery in time to prevent their underground city from being swallowed by darkness. The City of Ember was built over 200 year ago, deep below the earth, where the destruction of a mass-scale disaster couldn't reach it. Equipped with a massive generator and vast supplies, the people of Ember have thrived happily for generations -- but the city wasn't meant to be lived in forever. The generator is breaking down and the supplies are running out, but two centuries in isolation have robbed the Emberites of their knowledge -- nobody knows how the electric lights work anymore, and nobody understands that there's something beyond the city besides darkness. Nobody, that is, besides Lina (Saoirse Ronan) and Doon (Harry Treadaway), two teenagers who still have the hope that everyone else has lost to ignorance and apathy -- not to mention a sheet of instructions left by the Builders themselves explaining how to leave the city. But the 200-year-old paper is falling apart, and pieces are missing. So with the lights threatening to flicker out for the last time and leave Ember in darkness forever, Lina and Doon set out on an adventure through the streets, sewers, and dark caverns of Ember to put the pieces back together. To solve the mystery, they'll have to get inside the Builders' heads, and avoid the grasp of corrupt Mayor Cole (Bill Murray), who wants to keep Ember the way it is -- no matter what the cost. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Curse of the Pink Panther was released just after Trail of the Pink Panther with a script that has someone looking for the inept Inspector Clousseau and the fabulous stolen Pink Panther diamond at the same time. In Curse, Clifton Sleigh (Ted Wass) is a New York retread of the bumbling Inspector, chosen to look for him by Clousseau's former boss because Sleigh most certainly will never find him. Although peppered with a few inventive stunts, Curse still falls short of the Sellers classics. In a bizarre side note, David Niven was himself terminally ill at the time of his appearance in Trail of the Pink Panther and unable to speak adequately. His voice was dubbed in by impressionist Rich Little. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

A fifteen year-old boy still recovering from the death of his father fantasizes that his deceased dad returns in ghostly form to put his new stepfamily to the ultimate test. Six years after David lost his father in a tragic car accident, his mother has moved on and found a new husband. But as these two separate families take their first tenuous steps toward becoming a whole, David finds that his new stepsiblings, tempestuous granny, and other quirky family members are simply too much to contend with. But David isn't the only one who seems to have a problem with his new family, because his father's ghost appears frequently to comment on the situation as well. Will David prove capable of leaving the past behind and building his future with a new family, or are his memories of a simpler past just too perfect to let go? Imogen Stubbs and Steven Geller star in a spirited family comedy featuring Rosanna Arquette, James Callis, and Anthony Calf. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Mrs. Thornley (Liz Smith) leads a rather miserable existence in Salford. She lives with her husband, Jim (Clifford Kershaw), a night custodian at a toy factory, and their grown daughter, Ann (Polly Hemingway). Mrs. Thornley is a maid who works for an imperious upper-middle class woman, Mrs. Stone (Vanessa Harris). Between her work and her home life, it seems like Mrs. Thornley is always cooking, cleaning, and fielding complaints. Jim spends most of his spare time at the pub, and is pretty cold to his wife, drunkenly demanding sex from her once a week on the night he's not working. Jim's efforts to ingratiate himself to his supervisor, Mr. Shaw (Keith Washington), are met with a stony lecture about dressing properly on the job. Ann, meanwhile, has been spending her time trying to arrange an abortion for her friend Julie (Linda Beckett) with the help of a friendly Pakistani taxi driver, Naseem (an early turn by Ben Kingsley). The couple's son, Edward (Bernard Hill, who would later play Théoden in Lord of the Rings) seems to care about his mum, but his wife, Veronica (Alison Steadman, in the first of many performances for writer/director Mike Leigh), is a snob who constantly harangues him about his manners and looks down on his family. Mrs. Thornley, beaten down by her wearying existence, eventually seeks solace from a local priest. Hard Labour, Leigh's follow-up to Bleak Moments, was originally produced for the BBC's Play for Today series. It features an appearance by Alan Erasmus (who would become a major figure in the Manchester pop scene), portrayed by Lennie James in Michael Winterbottom's 24 Hour Party People. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

The owner of an Irish castle decides to attract visitors by falsely claiming that the building is haunted, only to have a pair of real ancestral spirits start causing trouble in this uneven attempt at fantasy-comedy. The story centers on Jack and Sharon (played by Steve Guttenberg and Beverly D'Angelo), naive American tourists who are initially unimpressed by the owner's attempts at fraud but become more interested in the real ghosts, Mary and Martin (played by Daryl Hannah and Liam Neeson). This is especially true for Jack, who falls in love with the beautiful Mary, despite several centuries' difference in their ages. After the film's initial unsuccessful release, people involved with the production blamed studio interference for damaging director Neil Jordan's original vision, although Jordan is better known as a director of quirky, dark dramas (Mona Lisa, The Crying Game, Interview With a Vampire, The Company of Wolves). For whatever reason, the end result was an awkward, forced comedy that more often than not falls flat, squandering a strong collection of talent. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

The line between reality and fiction becomes increasingly blurred as an ailing screenwriter struggles with a story that seems to come to life before his eyes. A self-destructive loaner whose battle with pancreatic cancer has left him embittered and in great pain, Daniel Feeld (Albert Finney) decides to focus his attention on an a new screenplay entitled "Karaoke." A lurid tale concerning the murder of a young girl working in a seedy karaoke bar, the story soon begins to invade Feeld's reality when he overhears people speaking the dialogue that he had written and finds that the people working in a local karaoke dive not only share his character's names, but their lives as well. Drawn to the suspiciously familiar plight of hostess Sandra (Saffron Burrows), Feeld's suspicions of thuggish club-owner Arthur "Pig" Mallion (Hywel Bennett) begin to mount as Feeld increasingly questions both his health and sanity. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Niall Johnson's comedy Keeping Mum concerns the family of a vicar who are beset by a variety of problems. Reverend Walter Goodfellow (Rowan Atkinson) is a well-meaning but hapless religious figure in his town. His son, Petey, is a wimp, forever terrorized at school. His daughter, Holly, enjoys the company of a variety of different boyfriends. Wife Gloria (Kristin Scott Thomas) has had enough of her husband and is considering leaving him for a golf teacher (Patrick Swayze). The family starts to come back together after hiring housekeeper Grace (Maggie Smith), a woman who knows a thing or two about keeping secrets. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Little Dorrit was intended as the cinematic equivalent to the mammoth, eight-hour Royal Shakespeare Company's staging of Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickelby. The film was released to theaters in two parts, each running approximately three hours. The first part, subtitled "Nobody's Fault," introduced us to the seamstress title character (Sarah Pickering), who chooses to live in debtor's prison with her father (Alec Guinness). Good Samaritan Arthur Clennam (Derek Jacobi) endeavors to help both father and daughter. The second part, also known as "Little Dorrit's Story," details Dorrit's escape from penury to lasting happiness. Eschewing the usual 19th century-style British music often heard in Dickensian adaptations, director Christine Edzard creatively -- and effectively -- opts for the strains of Giuseppe Verdi. Edzard's eye for period detail is also deserving of unbounded praise. Unfortunately, part two of Little Dorrit spends nearly half of its running time recapping part one, utilizing much of the same footage. For those familiar with "Nobody's Fault," "Little Dorrit's Story" is more a redundancy than a continuation. Still, taken together, parts one and two all fully deserving of the enthusiastic critical commentary that greeted them upon their original release -- not to mention the multiple Academy Award nominations bestowed upon the project and its participants. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi